


Lost

by Capucine



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Damian Wayne is Batman, Drama, Gen, Older Characters, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 07:53:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12164673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: It's a couple decades into the future, and things are looking grim. It takes saving a kid from the danger zone to bring back some hope.





	Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the trope 'Forbidden Zone.' I am trying to get back into the swing of writing, so I apologize that it's a bit weird.

“Hey!” 

Jason couldn’t believe he had to seize this dumb kid by the front of his shirt and yank him out of the forbidden zone, but apparently, that was reality now. The kid’s shoes skidded across the concrete, and he nearly fell on top of Jason, full backpack and all.

He looked startled at being yelled at.

What a fucking idiot.

“You wanna fucking die?” Jason demanded, heartbeat in his ears. The kid seemed to suddenly take in where he was, and rather than going, ‘oh shit, you’re right, that was dangerous’ he just looked more confused.

He was probably ten at most, with wide blue eyes.

What in hell’s name was a kid this unaware doing in what was essentially a war zone? Jason had pulled them both into a sort of alcove made by the remains of Old Gotham’s buildings. He didn’t know how any kid could still be like this, three years into alien occupation.

“...I’m sorry...” the kid finally breathed out, looking at the wrecked buildings like they were new.

“Yeah, well, prove you’re sorry by not fucking doing that again,” Jason snapped back. He didn’t like seeing a kid in danger like that, and it made him furious—not really with the kid so much as the fact that walking like an ordinary person out in the open was dangerous. 

“Yes, sir,” the kid said softly again.

Jason nearly choked at being called ‘sir.’ Who the hell was this kid? “Where’d you come from? How’d you get out there?”

Now the kid looked like a secret was buried deep, lips pressed together. 

“Kid. I’m serious here,” Jason said. 

“Are you Batman?” 

The kid’s question made Jason freeze. _Batman?_ He was fucking forty. There’d been four successive Batmans since Bruce had been taken out of action. First Dick, then Cassandra, then Tim, and now it was Damian, who was pushing it, in Jason’s opinion. He still remembered how each succession had gone, like some macabre play.

Dick stepped out of the role to hand it over to Cass; Cass was maimed in the alien invasion, and chose to join a group of monks instead, handing over the mantle to Tim; Tim had been missing for two years, since the aliens took him, and Damian took over the role. The costume looked a bit different on him, and very different than Jason had envisioned far back when Damian was an obnoxious teenager.

He still kept several parts of the costume that Tim had added, and everyone pretended they didn’t notice that he hoped Tim was still alive. At this point...it was unlikely.

No one had really returned from capture, and when they did...they weren’t exactly themselves.

“I’m not Batman. I’m the Red Hood,” Jason said finally. Batman was a role he had realized he didn’t want and likely shouldn’t fulfill. He was his own person, and as long as there was someone to fill the role, that was what mattered. 

“...why?” the kid wanted to know. “You sound like Batman.”

This kid was delivering unwanted mini heart attacks left and right, it seemed. The idea that he sounded like Bruce, or Dick, or Damian, or any of them, really, was unnerving.

“That’s my business, pipsqueak,” Jason said, “Now. Tell me what you were doing out there, and I won’t spank the living daylights out of you.”

The kid blinked, as if shocked at the idea of being spanked. “I was following Batman,” he said, “I was following him and Robin. But...they’re not here anymore.”

There hadn’t been a Robin proper in a long, long time. Now Jason knew something weird was up.

“Okay, where did you see Batman and Robin?”

The kid pointed. “Up high. I was taking pictures.”

Jason didn’t know what to make of this. So, he said what he could think of. “Kid, where are your parents?”

The kid’s face suddenly filled with realization. “Oh. Can you take me to a place? I know where I need to go.”

“Is it home?”

The kid gave a distracted nod, and took off. 

Jason found himself following, if only to keep the kid out of the danger zones. But the kid seemed to realize that they existed now, and so he kept to hidden spots.

It was a long trip, through Old Gotham; New Gotham sat underground, mostly, and out on the old outskirts of Old Gotham. If Jason wasn’t mistaken, they were heading for a pretty fancy part of Old Gotham.

The kid kept moving, picking his way through rubble with purpose.

Finally, he stopped, standing in the middle of the wrecked remains of huge house. He stayed still, glancing over at Jason.

“Um...I hate to tell you, kid, but this is no one’s home now,” Jason said.

“It’s my home,” the kid said, like it was a surprise, a smile spreading across his face. 

“No, it’s...” Jason’s voice trailed off when he realized _where_ they were. The old, destroyed Wayne Manor. 

“Kid...who the fuck are you?”

That was when there was a ripple, seeming to shake the very ruins around them, and the kid was gone—but in his place stood about fifty people Jason had thought he would never see again.

Zatanna looked exhausted—she had been taken, and so did they all, in fact, but Jason was too shocked to think much about it. 

Tim stepped forward out of the crowd, a smile hidden in the beard he’d grown, as he said, “We made it.”

“How--?” Jason managed, thinking he might be dreaming. How many times had he dreamed they would manage to free the ones that had been taken? How many times had he hallucinated any number of lost ones?

“Temporal anchor,” Tim said, grinning at him. He seemed more delighted to see Jason than Jason had seen him ever be. “You probably met him.”

It clicked immediately why those blue eyes had been so familiar, but Jason brushed that aside to seize Tim in a hug, telling him, “You know how fucking worried everyone is?”

Tim hugged him tighter than he would have expected, on some level, but he found it reassuring. Like Tim and the rest were real. “Pretty fucking worried, I bet,” Tim said.

Jason got them out of there, and he knew that this victory was one not just for his family, but for morale. It would only be weeks later that another great alien stronghold was toppled, and hope loomed on the horizon.


End file.
